Leap of Faith Into the Unknown

This week our nation paused to honor our veterans who fought on behalf of the United States of America. It is important to remember the sacrifices that they have made for us as Americans, and as a Canadian and Israeli citizen myself, I feel a particular debt of gratitude for the US and Israeli armies for making the world a safer place.

We need to be grateful to them for being willing to put their lives on the line, for giving up time with their families, the milestone occasions and the little moments of day-to-day family life. Too many of our soldiers have paid the ultimate price, with their lives. Others have returned from the fronts with life long disabilities—physical and mental and are haunted by what they needed to do. This Shabbat, often commemorated in our shul as Veteran’s Shabbat, is a beautiful opportunity to keep in mind our gratitude towards our veterans. 

Our foremother Rivkah teaches us a thing or two about self-sacrifice.  When Eliezer was tasked with going to find a wife for Isaac, he complained: “what if she doesn’t desire to follow me to this land?” And why would she- that means leaving her family, her community, her birthplace to an unknown world.  This is reminiscent of Abraham’s task to leave everything behind! Yet, when the time came and Rivkah was asked whether she wants to go, her response is simple yet profound: Elech, I will go. In the words of Sivan Rahav Meir, Rivkah was saying: “I will go, despite all my doubts, despite the difficulties in making the decision, despite the fact that agreeing to marry is a somewhat irrational leap of faith into the unknown. I will go!”

Our sages state: Mitzvah haba liyadcha al tachmitsena.” A mitzvah that comes to your hand, don’t allow it to become“chametz!”  In other words, don’t delay, don’t linger, don’t let the inspiration deflate. Grab it, now! This is Rivkah, she made an ultimate sacrifice because she had an opportunity to become a part of history. She showed herself to be worthy to be a mother of the Jewish people because when an opportunity came, she grabbed. 

When I think of veterans, I think of courage to go when logic and fear dictate no to. I think of people that grabbed the opportunity to turn darkness into light when so many others would have ran. We thank them for giving us many of the privileges that we enjoy today and we  take  a moment  to remind  ourselves of  the  direct link between the freedoms and liberties we enjoy and  the efforts of our veterans who gave of their mind, body and  spirit.